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It’s draft lottery day, what does it mean for the Jets?

August 10, 2020, 12:04 PM ET [82 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
Winnipeg Jets Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Hey Jets fans, because of how awesome you all are I will be staying on for some Jets coverage through the draft and free agency. We will see what happens between now and the start of the 2020-21 season, as I would love to stay on and give you guys the coverage you deserve. Being on the east coast makes catching Jets games a little difficult for me. Thank you for reading!

The math is simple: eight teams, each with a 12.5% chance of landing the first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, a pick that is all but guaranteed to be used on 18-year old Alexis Lafreniere.

Thanks to the NHL’s return-to-play format, and the wackiness that was Phase 1 of the NHL’s draft lottery process, the Jets are one of those eight teams that have an equal 12.5% chance of landing the top overall pick in this coming October’s (man that feels weird to type) draft.

Just days after their season came to an end in four games against the Calgary Flames in the NHL’s qualifying round, winning Monday’s draft lottery would be the Jets biggest win of the season, and a win that should be a franchise altering one.

Talented players like Lafreniere don’t come around too often. In three seasons with the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL, the left winger had 114 goals and 183 assists for 297 points in 173 career games.

Of course, the left side of the Jets top-six is rock solid with Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor but adding Lafreniere to the mix would only make the Jets that much more dangerous.

While the thoughts of seeing Lafreniere centered by Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh, Auston Matthews in Toronto or Connor McDavid in Edmonton is certainly exciting from an entertainment standpoint, the Jets would be a nice landing spot for Lafreniere.

From Laine and Connor to Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele among others, the Jets have the perfect blend of youth and veteran leadership in their lineup, a core that presumably would be a good fit for Lafreniere to jump into.

Even if the Jets don’t hit the lottery and land the top pick, they’re still in good shape with where they’ll end up in the first round.

Thanks to upsets in the qualifying round by the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks, the Jets can pick no worse than 10th, and will have one of three draft picks: 1st, 9th or 10th.

If the Jets win the lottery, well then obviously they pick 1st. If Minnesota wins the lottery the Jets pick 9th and if anyone other than the Jets or Wild win the lottery, the Jets will pick 10th.

If the Jets end up picking 9th or 10th, they’ll be in a good position to address some organizational needs such as right wing or defense, adding some noteworthy names to a prospect pool that lacks some marquee names.

Names like Jake Sanderson, Dawson Mercer, Seth Jarvis, Jack Quinn and maybe if they REALLY get lucky, Jamie Drysdale are all names to keep an eye on if the Jets don’t win the Lafreniere sweepstakes.

With Lafreniere the Jets will get an NHL-ready forward, one that will be in their opening night lineup in 2020-21, picking 9th or 10th and that’s less likely as the names mentioned above are likely to need one or two more years of developing before making the jump to the NHL.

The Jets only have four picks in the 2020 draft, one pick each in rounds 1, 2, 5 and 6, so the timing of earning a top-10 pick and the potential for selecting first overall is coming at the perfect time.

The Jets traded their 3rd round pick in February to Ottawa in exchange for Dylan DeMelo, while shipping their 4th rounder in a package to Montreal to acquire Simon Bourque.

Regardless of which way the lottery balls bounce on Monday, the bounce will be a win for the Jets.
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